It seemed like a timely and logical question from Supervisor Malia Cohen, but we already have the mayor’s answer. Or at least part of it.

Lee on Thursday put out a statement saying the impact to San Francisco from the so-called sequestration cuts could amount to $26.5 million, including over $5 million in education cuts, $2 million in Medicare cuts and $1 million in housing services for people with HIV/AIDS.

We did a little more digging and found that total also includes almost $5 million in cuts to a federally subsidized health and nutrition program for women, infants, and children; $2.7 million to San Francisco Housing Authority programs; and millions more to other parts of the social safety net. The $26.5 million figure also doesn’t include cuts to state funding that flows to cities.

“These cuts simply cannot occur,” Lee said in the statement. “President Obama has put forth a plan that curbs the deficit while preserving these critical investments in job growth and economic development. It is important for us all to reach out to Congress and insist that they work together to pull us back from this fiscal cliff.”

“The timing of the statement was to make sure Congress understands what dire impacts would happened to San Francisco if they don’t make the right decision,” mayoral spokeswoman Christine Falvey said. “It wasn’t about question time.”